Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir
Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir (オーディンスフィア レイヴスラシル Ōdin Sufia Reivusurashiru, stylized as Odin Sphere Leifþrasir) is the heavily updated remake of Vanillaware's classic from 2007, Odin Sphere. The game was once again published by Atlus and released on January 14th, 2016 in Japan and on June 7th and 24th in North America and Europe respectively. Overview As a remake, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir takes many of the concepts and mechanics that were found in the original PS2 release and either gives them basic improvements or completely rebuilds them from the ground up. Some of these important updates were based on the mechanics that Vanillaware created for Oboro Muramasa and Dragon's Crown, which helped make gameplay and progression much smoother and an overall much more pleasant experience for players. It's been noted many times to be one of the heftiest updates of a video game classic, as compared to other titles like some of the Pokemon franchise's remakes, the game receives much more than a graphical update and often feels like a completely new game for those who played the original. Per these heavy improvements, many fans feel that this is the version that should be played, as it lacks many of the flaws that bogged down the original. Gameplay Coming soon! Story Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir's story is exactly the same as the PS2 version: It's the story of five protagonists from various warring nations attempting to achieve their personal goals amidst the encroaching end of the world. Although no alterations were made overall, the world of Erion has been expanded upon with the introduction of new creatures who frequently serve as enemies, as well as an updated text archive that sheds more light on the game's backstory and subplots that were initially left unexplored. Additionally, should the player obtain all the False Ending cutscenes in The Book of Armageddon, a new endcard is obtained addressing what happened to Ingway and Mercedes after their deaths in the finale. Development Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir began development in 2014. Although George Kamitani was the director of the original game, he instead chose to give Kentaro Ohnishi the responsibility of directing the remake while he took a backseat role as the game's producer. Hitoshi Sakimoto and his Basiscape team also returned to provide the new scores found in the game, along with Shanachie for the new version of the ending theme. The remake was teased several days before its announcement in July 2015 via a website revealing a new collab between Atlus and Vanillaware. On July 20th, the game was officially announced through a livestream that was aired from Boston and that it would be released in Japan for the PS3, PS4, and PSVita on January 14th, 2016. On July 24th, AtlusUSA announced that all three versions would be released in North America sometime that same year, with June 7th being the confirmed date much later. For its European release, Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir was picked up by NISA Europe and would be the last Atlus game they'd publish due to the company formally ending it relationship with Atlus as its European publisher a few months before the release. In the months leading up to its debut, the game received heavy marketing and advertisement from Atlus. At the 2015 Tokyo Game Show, a demo was made available to event attendees, with similar demo events being held through autumn and into December. The game was also featured in various nico livestreams and a number of new merchandise and spin-off material was announced, including Odin Sphere Leifthrasir: Little Fairy Queen, a manga adaption illustrated by Tomoyuki Hino that focuses on Mercedes's story and first appeared in the July 2016 issue of Monthly Shonen Sirius on May 26th, 2016, five months after the game's release in Japan. In the months following the Japanese release, Eurogamer released an interview with Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir's director Kentaro Ohnishi. Besides talking about his experiences as a game developer and the effort that went into redesigning and improving Odin Sphere, Ohnishi also revealed that there were some additional add-ons that, while considered, didn't make it into the final product due things such as time constraints, not getting approval from Kamitani, and story consistency. Such add-ons included a randomly generated dungeon unlocked post-game, an online action-simulation minigame called "Erion Wars," an additional story archive showcasing new cutscenes, and an additional chapter with Ingway as the playable character. Reception Coming soon! Trivia * Odin Sphere: Leifthrasir's development was teased in an illustration George Kamitani uploaded for New Year's 2014, over a year and a half before it was officially announced. * The game's subtitle, "Leifthrasir," is the name of the man who survives Ragnarok to repopulate humanity in Norse mythology. Leifthrasir itself means "lover of life" and is meant to be a nod toward the love themes that are a central part of the game's story. Category:Games Category:Official Material Category:Industry